


All Hallow's Morrow

by Astro_Break



Category: Ensemble Stars! (Video Game)
Genre: Attempt at Humor, Baking, Birthday, Brief Mentions of Magic, Gen, Light Angst, No Beta we Die Like the Five Eccentrics, POV Third Person Limited, this is enstars did you seriously think that there would be no angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-02
Updated: 2020-11-02
Packaged: 2021-03-09 00:00:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,240
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27355390
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Astro_Break/pseuds/Astro_Break
Summary: November 2nd always left a bitter, metallic taste in Ritsu’s mouth, the implications of such a date repulsive and exhaustingThen he enters Knights and the date takes on a whole new meaning
Relationships: Narukami Arashi & Sakuma Ritsu, Sakuma Rei & Sakuma Ritsu, Sakuma Ritsu & Sena Izumi
Comments: 3
Kudos: 14





	All Hallow's Morrow

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Birthday to Sena Izumi and Sena Izumi only /j  
>   
> Is this an excuse to both write something to get my feelings out and fulfill my “Daily Bully Anija” requirements? Yes. Is this also self indulgent as all hell? Yes. Very. There is so much self indulgence in this.  
>   
> Please don't ask me how it became a Ritsu-centric fic when its supposed to be an birthday fic for Sena (and Rei to an extent) I have no idea either, I just rolled with it  
>   
> Written in a Leo-esque fever of “holy shit I have ideas and I need to get it down on paper”. Completely unedited and unbeta-ed and probably sucks because I just let my brain run while writing. Please enjoy

Once upon a time, Ritsu loved the second day of November. How could he not, when that date signified that Rei, his beloved, strong, amazing, and kind older brother was growing into a man that would one day become the head of their eccentric family. It was a constant reminder to him that Rei would always be big and reliable, strong enough to protect Ritsu from anything. Even the monsters that lurked in the musty halls of their ancient house and the sharp voices that cut through the stale air every time mom and dad came home faded away into nothing when he was with Rei. Each year, Rei would grow bigger and stronger and Ritsu loved it, content to snuggle up within his brother’s warm embrace.  
  
Every year, Ritsu would wake up on November 2nd and leap out of bed, his feet thundering down the empty corridor and throw open the heavy doors to Rei’s bedroom. He would then squeal as he threw himself onto the Rei shaped lump under the covers, wrapping small arms around his brother’s neck. He would then demand that Rei get his lazy butt out of bed because today was a special day, there couldn’t waste any more time! Rei would always grumble at the early morning wake-up call but he would never fail to smile and squeeze Ritsu tight as “Happy Birthday, Onii-chan!” filled the bedroom.  
  
When Ritsu gained a knack for baking and began to learn the finer intricacies of baking in magic, homemade cakes replaced store-bought ones and Rei’s praise for his mastery accompanied the goodwill and love baked into each cake. The gifts which accompanied the cake were unique each year varied, yet every year Rei’s face would undoubtedly light up and Ritsu’s hair would be ruffled. It didn’t matter if it was a new set of strings for a violin or an ancient tome, Rei would always use it with a wide and bright smile on his face.  
  
But as years passed, his brother’s birthday became just another day. Ritsu didn’t particularly hate the day, nor did he like it. The day simply became a normal day of a normal month in another normal year. If by coincidence he accidentally bought a can of tomato juice when getting a soda and set the extra can inside his brother’s shoe locker, then that was all it was. A coincidence. Even when Rei pinned him with sharp eyes and that infuriating knowing smirk whenever Ritsu returned home, he wouldn’t crumble. “Whatever you say, brat.” Rei would say, ruffling his hair just like the old days and Ritsu would bat the hand away ruefully.  
  
Then he found another family and suddenly November 2nd became important again. Sena Izumi was a storm, a boy who unabashedly took what he desired, keeping everyone at an arm’s length away and his friends even further. He was the first one to look through the dark veil that covered Ritsu and see him for himself. Not as Sakuma Rei’s little brother, but as Sakuma Ritsu a good for nothing lazy brat who wanted nothing more than to sleep the day away. So, November 2nd once again was circled in red on the small calendar that Ritsu kept tucked away in his nightstand. And Ritsu found himself wondering what kinds of gifts the silver-haired boy would like as he stared at the creaky ceiling and nodded off to the teacher’s monotonous voice.  
  
Yet he found himself shaking behind a closed door that year, hands gripping the door handle as raised voices echoed down the deserted hallways. The war tore apart his safe haven, ripping his reliable big brother from his hands, and breaking up his second family; leaving Ritsu with nothing but the tattered remains of what could have been but will never come to pass. A loud bang had him flinching as Leo stormed off, leaving Sena calling after him and Ritsu shivering in the cold and empty music room. It was over, he thought mournfully, the package of pale blue wrapping paper mocking him from its place within Ritsu’s school bag.  
  
When Sena came to practice on the second day of November, all that greeted him was a present, wrapped in pale blue paper sitting upon a pile of unused live outfits.  
  
The next year was a mess, between crawling back up from the brink of destruction to wrangling their wayward king back onto the stage and even reaching some sort of middle ground with his stupid senile brother, November snuck up upon him. On the first day of the new month when the sun dipped below the horizon, Ritsu’s phone blew up with frantic messages from Knights collectively scrambling to plan a party for Sena. Ritsu only laughed and set his phone on silent rolling over in bed and closing his eyes.  
  
Before shooting up when he realized that he didn’t have a present for Sena either  
  
Thundering down the stairs, Ritsu skidded across the laminated floors, socked feet gliding across the smooth surface. Snatching up the jacket he had carelessly tossed over the back of a couch, he began to struggle with the cloth, shoving one hand through an armhole and was in the process of shrugging the rest of the jacket on before someone cleared their throat.  
  
“What’s with the rush, Ritsu?” Rei asked lightly, leaning against the entryway to the fainting room. He was holding a steaming cup of… something, and the wired glasses that framed sharp eyes all spoke to Rei’s late-night plans, yet Ritsu couldn’t help clicking his tongue in annoyance. Old men should just sleep and stop ruining their already awful sight by squinting under low lighting.  
  
Finally wrestling the jacket into submission and letting it fall over his frame in a semi-presentable way, Ritsu pushed past his brother to hurry to the shoe rack. “Going out.” He simply muttered, shoving the first pair of shoes he could see onto his feet.  
  
A loud gasp was all the warning Ritsu got before his brother all but threw himself at Ritsu. “Ritsuuuuu!! You’re going out to buy a present for me? I do love you so very much, Ritsu!!” Rei wailed, trapping Ritsu in his arms as he was furiously nuzzled and showered with affection.  
  
Yelling as he was knocked off balance, Ritsu desperately pushed his clingy brother off of him. It was almost like Rei was a needy Kraken rather than a vampire, his hands stupidly difficult to pry off. “Get off me, you stupid, useless- ugh.” Finally kicking his pathetic brother off, Ritsu stood up and danced out of reach before his bother of a brother could try anything else and opened the front door. “Who said anything about a present you useless bug. I don’t remember needing to give you any present for anything. Besides, Secchan’s birthday is tomorrow so I’d appreciate it if you didn’t bother me.”  
  
Slamming the door on the wailing whine of his name, Ritsu blows out a cold huff and sets off, his breath trailing after him in a condensed cloud.  
  
Truth be told, Ritsu had no idea what to get Sena. He knew that the other boy loved shrimp to a fault but that would make a stupid and sucky present. Ritsu snorted at the thought of presenting the haughty model with a package of shrimp and he can practically hear Sena’s uppity voice chewing him out. Walking down to the nearby conbini is easy enough and the door chimes as it slides open for Ritsu, a basket is picked up and he wanders down the various aisles. Flour, eggs, milk, cheese, all the usual line the mundane shelves and Ritsu wonders if he can bake a cake. He hasn’t practiced baking with the intention to cast any sort of magic through his creations for years, having long abandoned the art ever since his brother chose to leave him behind. Yet Ritsu surmises that he remembers how to bake a cake of prosperity. With Sena aiming to expand his work overseas, it only seemed fitting.  
  
With the weight of a plastic bag full of groceries in his hand, Ritsu walked back home, lingering outside Mao’s home for a moment. The window which Ritsu knew connected to Mao’s room was open and artificial light filtered through the loosely rustling curtains and Ritsu frowned. And though the temptation to crawl into his childhood best friend’s room was ever-present and overpowering, he would chew Mao out for leaving his window open and staying up late tomorrow. Right now, there was a cake to be baked  
  
Thankfully his brother was gone by the time Ritsu locked the front door behind him, kicking off his shoes and muttering a half-hearted “I’m home” out of habit. Picking his way to the kitchen, Ritsu dumped his bag of ingredients on the countertop and sighed. Sena was damn lucky that the sun had gone down and Ritsu wasn’t tired, he grumbled to no one in particular as he pushed up his sleeves and set about prepping the kitchen. It felt nostalgic, his hands working with practiced ease to bless his workspace and layout the basic ingredients for a cake. Even as he unintentionally pulled out the components he used once upon a time to craft a loving cake for his brother, Ritsu let himself be swept in the process of baking letting his muscle memory take over.  
  
Popping the cakes into the oven, Ritsu sighed, rubbing the sticky batter that had stuck on his fingers around. Walking up the stairs, he fished out his phone and balked at the number of messages and missed calls that had flooded his phone. They were all from Knights.  
  
Making a face, Ritsu weighed the pros and cons of calling back when his phone jumped in his hands and vibrated, the screen coming to life with an incoming call. Pressing the green call button, Ritsu brought his phone up only to immediately jerk it away as his ear was blasted off by the immediate burst of static scolding, he was subjected to.  
  
Ritsu grimaced and brought the phone back to his ear. “Yes yes I’m sorry, won’t happen again.” He yawned not even remotely sorry.  
  
“You’re not even sorry, are you?” Narukami accused over the speaker and Ritsu couldn’t help but snicker as he picked his way back down the stairs. “Whatever, you have to be better about answering your phone, Ritsu-chan. Do you have any idea how long we were trying to get a hold of you for?”  
  
“Nope.” He sang, flicking on the stove light to check on the progress of his cakes. He didn’t feel guilty at the exasperated sigh on the other end of the line as he sat down before the stove to simply observe the slow browning of batter. “It must be important if you’ve flooded my phone with,” he checks just to make sure, “58 messages and 12 missed calls, though. What’s up?”  
  
“Ritsu-chan,” Narukami says with all the patience of a saint who was seconds away from abandoning any and all pacifistic vows in order to give Ritsu a good punch on the face. “Please check your messages for once. If you don’t show up tomorrow morning, I’ll personally ask Sakuma-senpai to wake you up and drag you out, hn?”  
  
Ritsu only laughed and quickly hung up. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.  
  
Scrolling through his messages as the timer ticked down, Ritsu sighed and tossed the phone aside as the messages were nothing but everyone reminding him that Sena’s birthday was tomorrow. As if he would ever forget, did Knights not have any faith in their strategist?  
  
The timer ringed and Ritsu quickly shut the incessant beeping up by yanking open the oven door letting the scent of freshly baked goods envelope the area. A smile danced across Ritsu’s lips at the feeling of home that accompanied the aroma of crisp apples and sugar. Sliding out the cakes, Ritsu gingerly turned off the heat and set about decorating his gift, lightly sprinkling cinnamon and placing raspberries around the edge. In the center sat a garnish of delicately placed orange peels and Ritsu stepped back with a satisfied huff. He didn’t like how plain it looked and the itch to bless the cake with all that he had was ever-present but he refrained from doing so. He didn’t particularly want a Secchan Lecture™.  
  
Turning to his second cake, Ritsu scowled at the nostalgic confection which he had once upon a time made on a yearly basis. While the cake certainly wasn’t pleasant to look at without digging up memories of days that Ritsu would rather forget, it would be a waste to simply throw it away and waste the time and love he had placed within it. Reluctantly taking up his knife, Ritsu chopped up fennel grown from the small garden in the back and layered it thinly upon the cake, painstakingly curating the balance of the spice with the sweetness of the confection. Apple rabbits were gently placed upon the faux grass, dipped with honey to glaze over the adorable shape.  
  
Mildly satisfied with what weird result he had produced, Ritsu fished out two boxes and gently wrapped each cake to place in the fridge. As he closed the fridge door and swept up his work space, Ritsu wondered if he could perhaps come to like what the second of November brought.

**Author's Note:**

> No. he decided when he finally blinked the sleep from his eyes hours later. No, he would never like what happened on this cursed day.  
>   
> The Sakuma household was filled with the screams of the damned come morning as Ritsu was very rudely awoken by his senile brother who found it suitable to emulate what Ritsu had once done many years ago on the very same day. Spitting bloody murder, Ritsu fruitlessly shoved his brother off his chest as the other simply clung on by wrapping his arms around Ritsu’s neck. Declaring very boldly that he would never let go of his precious sweet brother, Rei hauled Ritsu’s flailing body out of bed and towards the living room as he rambled on and on about how today was a special day.  
>   
> “Get off me you useless bug!” Ritsu screeched, feeling too much like a cat who had been picked up by the scruff and dunked into a bath. “Didn’t I tell you not to bother me today? Let go, stupid Anija!”  
>   
> His brother sounded entirely too happy when he refused.  
>   
> \-----  
>   
> Once again, Happy Birthday Sena Izumi and a Happy Birthday to Hakaze Kaoru while I’m at it  
>   
> Normal Birthday to Rei too I guess


End file.
